5 Tips to Survive a Craft Show as a Vendor

Vending a craft show can be incredibly rewarding:  you get to meet your customers face-to-face, meet other crafters, see how the public reacts to your products and, of course, make money.But, it also can be incredibly grueling, too:  you don’t always get to go the bathroom or have a snack when you want, you have to deal with the weather and people can be nasty right to your face.How do you survive this?5 Tips to Survive a Craft Show as a Vendor:1.  Be prepared.So much goes into this, but being prepared is the #1 tip I have for any craft show.  When you are prepared, you can be calm.  When you’re not prepared, you feel frazzled.Make sure you have packed everything you need, your items are priced, you have your display thoughtfully ready and you have everything you need to efficiently check people out when they make purchases.  My Craft Show Tips eBook tells you how to be prepared, along with helpful worksheets.2.  Water.Bring a lot of water.  If it is a summer show outdoors, this is especially true.  Bring much more water than you think you will need, even twice as much.  You won’t always have the opportunity to leave your stand, and having water on hand is essential.3.  Wear comfortable shoes and clothes.I suggest in my Craft Show Tips eBook to make sure your clothes match the style of what you are selling.  If you are selling high end fine jewelry, you probably want to dress up a little more.  However, no matter what you are wearing, you have to have sturdy shoes and be comfortable in your clothes.You’ll be on your feet for hours.  I believe your feet are the beginning and end to how you feel.  If your feet hurt, it will be difficult to keep a smile on your face.Wear comfortable, but nice, clothes.  If it’s an outdoor show, wear layers that you can take off or add on if need be.4.  Create yourself an emergency kit.Put things in it like:  band aids, sunscreen, cough drops, pain reliever, tissues, wet wipes, etc.  Anything that can go wrong, could go wrong unless you are prepared.5.  Put on your smile and let things roll off your back.You might have an amazing craft show where everyone is cheerful and everything goes perfectly.  But you probably won’t.  Most likely at least a few things will go wrong.  The weather may not cooperate, people may be grumpy and mean, or you may not do well sales-wise.Just try to keep a happy attitude with a smile on your face.  I’m not saying to be fake, but sometimes “faking it til you make it” actually works.  Once you force yourself to smile, eventually you feel better.Also remember, anything that happened to you, has happened to all of us craft show vendors at one point or another!I’ve melted down over windstorms, had people ask me “who would wear this?”, survived in heat, rain, cold and anything else you can imagine.I’ll tell you all you need to be prepared for your craft show in my eBook:  Craft Show Tips.